Thank you for your feedback on the last chapter, I hope you enjoy the building tension! Now that the friends know, they can try to find a way to prevent the attack. Okay, let's see if they can already come up with a plan...

Chapter 23

Tris

Over half an hour has passed, and we still haven't recovered from the shock. We moved back over to the sofa, and Zeke pours us the third round of liqueur. It burns in my throat and even in my stomach, like the first ones, a weird sensation, but I get why Zeke offers it to us. It momentarily distracts the mind from the unbelievable truth of an upcoming attack, forcing it to concentrate on something else, something more immediate.

I haven't found the strength to let go of Tobias' hand, and he keeps holding mine, so I assume it's okay not to hide any longer from Shauna and Uriah. They haven't commented on us yet, but I saw Uriah raise his eyebrows at me, accompanied by a short half-smile, before he turned serious again. Shauna nudged Zeke in the side with a nod in our direction, and he whispered something in her ear that seemed to answer her unspoken question for the time being.

I think of things to say, of questions to ask, but I can't come up with anything sensible. I feel as if I got punched and lost my ability to think as a result. My mind wanders to my family, to my parents, oblivious to the danger they're living in, and to my brother. I wonder if he knows about these plans. He's smart. Has he figured them out? Or was he maybe even told about them? Do all Erudite know about it after all?

The inexpressible threat to our society is hanging heavily above all of us like invisible fog.

After a long silence, Uriah's voice pulls us back to the present, "Okay guys, I know this was a tough revelation, but we all have to concentrate now on how to foil their plan. We need to come up with ideas how to sabotage them. We can't wait for them to put it in action, we have to beat them to it! We're Dauntless, it's our job to protect the city!"

His words help us regain composure, and Tobias gets up and starts pacing up and down the living room while giving us a little speech.

"We all have to be aware that it's a dangerous thing to do. Not only do we have to intrigue against our leaders, but against Erudite, too. You all know Jeanine Matthews. In my opinion, she won't stop at nothing to reach her goals. I bet she's the one who wants to lead the new government once they've overthrown Abnegation. I don't know what she promised Max and Eric in return for their collaboration, but they probably won't get it anyway. Apart from that, choosing to work against them makes us traitors. We have to be very careful with whatever we do and especially with whom we trust. Maybe there are more people involved. Eric has friends who admire him, and Max has been in charge for a while, so he has lots of followers within our faction. We can't be sure who else is in on the plans, so we better rely only on ourselves."

So the first thing we agree upon is that we want to try to prevent the attack if we can. It's a pretty basic decision, but I think it's important to make it, deliberately.

Soon, the first shadows of ideas are forming, although it's difficult to find something to start with. There are so many things we don't know, so many secrets unexplored. I listen to the group talking, trying to think of a way to bring order in our plans. Then I stand and gesture the others to fall silent. Everyone looks at me expectantly now, which is unfamiliar. I have to clear my throat before I start speaking.

"Okay, I think we should try to approach this problem more systematically. It's good we all have so many ideas, but we have to find the promising ones and separate them from the rather useless. There's not much time left, maybe not more than a week, so we need to act quickly, but without becoming hysterical or hasty. That would only lead us to make reckless mistakes. We just have this single chance to save Abnegation, so before we decide anything, we should really talk and think things through."

I take a deep breath to brace myself for the criticism that's going to come, but it's unnecessary. Instead, they nod and Uriah gives me the thumbs-up.

"So what do you suggest? How do we get started?" Tobias supports me, absentmindedly rubbing his hand along his jawline.

I'm a little nervous to be the center of attention. I cast it aside. Now is not the time for polite reservation.

"In my opinion, we should have our goal in mind and think from there backwards to today. What can we do to stop the attack, or at least to gain time to prevent it? Is there anything we can do about it? And, thinking about these options: What information do we need to judge what's a good plan and what's not? We have to compile additional facts to work out the details of our plan. How can we get them?"

Everyone considers what I've said, and I sit back down on the couch beside Tobias. This time it's him taking my hand in his, and he squeezes it softly. Despite the grave situation, I notice how relieved I am that he shows this little sign of affection and starts to caress the back of my hand with his thumb.

"We could try to hold up the supply of weapons. Maybe, if we cause a delay, they won't be able to carry out their plans the way they want to," Zeke throws out a suggestion.

"That could work. But how can we influence the weapon order? They placed it nearly two months ago," Shauna says, frowning.

I wonder if I imagine it, but I think Tobias tenses up next to me, though I don't know why.

"We could fake a letter that tells the leaders it's going to take longer to produce the weapons," Uriah proposes, addressing Zeke.

"Yeah, and how do we make sure they won't actually be delivered?"

"I don't know, you're the computer freak! I'm still an initiate."

Tobias shifts beside me, a little uncomfortably. He's pinching the root of his nose again. If I'm not mistaken, he's going to come up with an idea soon.

"It doesn't help us with this one," he breaks the silence. "The factionless don't have computers, as far as I know. Eric must have printed the order and then had it delivered to them. They surely have a way to communicate, but without computers."

"How do you know that? They could have some computers," Zeke asks, surprised.

Okay, so apparently this isn't common knowledge among the Dauntless.

"I just happen to know they don't," Tobias answers, and maybe he fools the others with this, but at least I notice that it isn't a real answer. "I could try to contact their leadership to negotiate the issue. If I could persuade them of the necessity of it, they could write a letter like we the one we discussed. But it'll only save us time, it won't solve the problem."

"Factionless has a leader?" Zeke's asks, stunned.

Another thing that Tobias knows and the others don't.

"Yes, they have."

"But how do you know that?"

"I can't really remember who told me. But I could contact the leader."

"I never knew there was one."

Zeke doesn't seem to be able to get over it. Neither can I. But it's neither the fact that the factionless have organized themselves so well they even have someone who rules them, nor that nobody else seems to know about it. No, I wonder why Tobias of all people knows this and why he won't give answers that deserve to be called answers. All he ever does is avoid answering. Nonetheless, it's just me who cares about it.

"Well, there is, and I can offer to sneak over tomorrow. I have the day off, so it's the best opportunity to do it. It would be much more difficult during the week, with all my initiation duties."

"Before we vote on this, I'd like to know if you're sure they are trustworthy. You said we should be careful about who we trust." It's the first thing Christina says in a while and I think it's a good objection.

Tobias looks annoyed at first, but then he masks it by pulling up Four.

"I'm sure. I wouldn't propose this idea if I thought it wasn't safe. There are no guarantees, but I don't have to spill them everything we know anyway. They'll get the information they need to agree with the plan, but no more."

"Don't you think their collaboration comes at a prize?"

"No."

Christina watches him closely, and he doesn't flinch. It's like a staring contest. I know what Christina is doing. She's using her lie detector skills on him. While I often find it aggravating, in this case it's interesting. Maybe it's because she doesn't use them on me this time. It's not that I don't believe Tobias, but I can't shake the feeling there's more to this matter.

"Okay, I vote yes," Christina finally says.

The others follow her opinion, and so do I. It's at least a plan that could actually work.

Unfortunately, we don't have another idea on how to stop Max, Eric and Jeanine, so we shift our focus on how to collect more information.

Zeke offers to check Eric's files with a closer eye tomorrow, and we all agree on that. We don't even need to discuss it. Shauna says she'll help him, stating that four eyes see more than two.

"I could sneak to the Erudite compound to look for my brother and try to find out if he knows anything about the plan, or at least about the secret serum," I suggest cautiously.

"That's too dangerous," Tobias says immediately. "You can't tell him what we know. He's an Erudite now."

"But he's still my brother!" I insist. "He's the only person at Erudite that I trust. Who else can we turn to?"

"I don't know, but I don't want you to put yourself at risk, or any of us."

"I know it's risky, but unless you come up with a better idea, I still want to go. You go to the factionless. Why is that any less dangerous?"

"Because it's not the factionless that conspire with Dauntless, it's Erudite."

"You don't know that for sure! For all we know, they could be involved, too."

"They aren't."

"So isn't Caleb! He might be able to find out what kind of serum is in the syringes. My mother even told me to ask him about it on Visiting Day!"

I only remember her words at this moment. So much has happened since that day, and I was so occupied with initiation and Tobias that I completely pushed her advice to the back of my mind.

Our voices have become louder, and in the sudden silence after our argument I feel all eyes on us.

"I think she's right, Four," Christina says cautiously, and I know she has to work up courage to contradict him. "He's perhaps the most trustworthy person we know at Erudite, and we need someone who can tell us more about what's going on inside the faction."

Tobias shakes his head, but Zeke comes to our help, stating that he supports my suggestion. At last everyone approves of it, so Tobias has to give in.

"I hope it won't turn out to be a mistake," he shrugs.

"If we want a second contact at Erudite, Will has family there, too. His sister is a bit older, and I think she can be trusted, too," Christina proposes.

We decide to wait until tomorrow and then see if it'll still seem necessary to get in touch with her, since it would involve letting Will in on our secrets, too.

"Eventually we have to find more allies anyway. We can't stop them on our own. We're just six people, half of us not even full members. How are we supposed to do it? We need more manpower," Christina states.

"And womanpower!" Uriah adds with a laugh. "But we can argue about that tomorrow. At eight, again?"

We fix the time and then declare the meeting finished. Uriah and Christina leave first.

"So what about the two of you, Zeke said you're together?" Shauna wants to know after they have left.

"Yes, but it needs to remain a secret until initiation is over," Tobias answers her, and I wonder if his intimidating tone works with Shauna. They've known each other for a while now, and from all I've heard, he helped her a lot during their initiation. At least she's not offended by his attitude and just nods.

"Of course."

XXX

I'm glad when I'm back in my small room. It feels comforting to be here, and I let myself fall down on the bed, arms crossed behind my head. Soon I hear a key turn in the lock, and Tobias walks in. I turn my head and watch him kick off his shoes. He goes to the kitchen, fills a glass with water and thirstily empties it. The sound of the glass being put down on the counter rings loud in the silence. The atmosphere is strange, tense.

"Can I lay down beside you?" Tobias asks, not moving an inch.

"Sure."

We spend at least half an hour next to each other without speaking. Tobias' position almost mirrors mine, his hands resting on the back of his neck.

"So was this a fight we had?" I ask him after a while. "Cause it feels like that, although I don't know why we should be angry with each other just because we had different opinions."

His chest heaves as he sighs. "I don't know what it was. I don't want to fight either. I think of it rather as a discussion."

"It must be possible for us to think differently about something without getting into a fight."

"We'll have to work on that in the future."

"We should."

I pull my left hand out from under my head and nudge his side gently, and he moves a hand from behind his neck to take mine. We both don't need more apologies. The severity of the threat dangling over us is what's really important, not our disagreement on how to face it. We take comfort in each other's proximity, both following our thoughts.

When I can't stifle a yawn for the third time in a row, Tobias sits up. "We should get ready to sleep. We have a lot to do tomorrow."

I have to force myself to get up and brush my teeth, I'm just so exhausted. When I'm back in my bed with Tobias by my side, I feel sleep overwhelm me almost at once. It's ridiculous, I remember thinking, that it would pull me into its dark embrace so quickly when my mind should still be wide awake, looking for ways out of this trouble.

DISCLAIMER: I own neither the Divergent world nor the characters, they belong to Veronica Roth.